Motorists down to one lane of Route 35 near border of Middlesex, Monmouth counties

Photo of Route 35 traffic in Ocean County. In neighboring Monmouth County, a flood-prone stretch of 35 will be closed to one lane as major work begins on a drainage improvement project. The work on the popular Shore route was held off until after the summer tourist season.John O'Boyle/The Star-Ledger

Motorists will have to squeeze through a section of Route 35 near the border of Middlesex and Monmouth counties without a left lane, as major construction gets under way this week on a safety improvement and congestion relief project.

The drainage improvement project is taking place on a flood-prone, 1.25-mile stretch of Route 35 between the areas of Prospect Avenue in Old Bridge and Greenwood Drive in Aberdeen.

Motorists will lose the left lane while the contractor, Green Construction, removes the existing median barrier, leaving them with one lane in each direction, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Later this month, motorists will shift to the left lanes and lose the right lanes, officials said.

Preliminary work and utility relocation began in March, but the DOT wanted to keep traffic flowing on the popular Shore route, so lane closures were held off until after labor Day.

“Route 35 experiences chronic flooding along this stretch where a pair of culverts carry the roadway over Long Neck Creek and Whale Creek, often resulting in the closure of the highway,” the DOT noted in a news release. “This $15.7 million project will raise the level of Route 35 by as much as four feet, with the highest increases in elevation at the culverts. Other work involves roadway rehabilitation, widening, drainage and safety improvements, replacing the two culverts and improvements to four intersections.”

The improvements include the lengthening of a jughandle at Birchwood Drive, the widening of County Road to provide a left turn lane and shared “right-tun/through lane” onto Route 35, the widening of Cliffwood Avenue to provide an additional through lane and the converting of the Amboy Road shoulder into an additional through lane for Route 35 South.